I've spent about half of the last week in Southern Europe. We would generally include Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Greece, etc in that category. In my case, it was Italy (for leisure) and Spain (for business).
From a business perspective, it's easy to have one's attention continually drawn toward the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Nordics, France, Belgium, and Germany. And, in fact, even though all of Europe is in my portfolio, I've spent most of my time with that handful of countries. But there is something highly compelling about Southern Europe.
Sometimes I wonder if it's like a time machine for Americans. Those countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece were all exceptional political, economic, and military powers at one time. They are lovely places today but, at this point in history, it would be a stretch to call them "powers" along any of those dimensions. They are past their days of world leadership. Still, they're fine. They have rich cultures and histories. The people are wonderful. Their economies aren't world beaters but, generally speaking, they do OK.
Are these countries instructive for what a post-exceptional USA looks like? And if so, is that a problem?
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